posted August 17, 2002 01:32 PM            

Anyway back to the "Defination of Astrology".

Can each of you write a short essay/letter, introducing yourself, describing how you discovered astrology, what your existing knowledge of astrology is and why you've decided at this point to study it?

How would you describe astrology?

For example, what do you tell your friends and family when they want to know why you're interested/learning astrology?

Please don't be nervous about doing this
There are no right or wrong answers.
It will help the teachers here to help you BUT more importantly at the end of the course you'll be able to look back and see how much your thoughts/views may have changed

posted August 17, 2002 11:22 PM              

Wonderful idea. I'll follow Randall. I bring my son to college on Tuesday (the final one at home), and then will be free (read empty nest syndrome). I will post soon.

posted August 18, 2002 04:40 AM            

I wonder how many other people were first introduced to astrology with Linda Goodman books. I was - my first book was Sun Signs which I read for the first time in 1979

I'm sure this course will be a fascinating astrological journey for you
Sue

posted August 18, 2002 06:23 AM              

I was born 25 February 1956, so I'm a Pisces, my chart is mainly water and fire, no earth. I don't remember when my interest in astrology came about,I just remember my mum talking about her being pisces and my dad being a Leo. I was about 18 when I really started getting interested. Linda's Sun Signs was the first book I bought, and my second and my third and my fourth and at that point I made a decision to never lend my book out again!

A few years later, a strange time in my life. I needed lots of distractions. I had just got married but my husband was in the forces and was stationed a fair distance away, I didn't feel I could join him because my father was dying from cancer and I felt I needed to stay at home with my mum. The dog we had had for 10 years developed kidney problems so after lots of heartache we asked the vet to put him to sleep. So, I took up driving lessons, evening classes and enrolled on a corropondence course for Astrology. Three months after my dad died, I dropped everything I was learning to join my husband.

Several years later, after I was divorced, I picked up my interest in astrology again. Enrolled on a correspondence course to leanr the basics again and actually completed the lessons but didn't take the exam at the end or go on any of the summer schools due to lack of funds. It's a bit lonely trying to learn something when no-one else is interested so again I got distracted. One day, after obtaining a computer, I found out about the Linda Goodman sites, my interest returned and my book collection increased.

I see astrology as a tool to understanding myself and others. An insight to the lessons that I need to learn to be 'me'.
Life is only painful when resisting the changes. Having a clue in advance when the lessons are coming would help me work through the tough times. Although being a Pisces I have problems making decisions so I procrastinate a lot.
Love Gladeyes

posted August 18, 2002 09:03 AM              

I discovered astrology pretty early probably around the age of seven or eight. I was pretty smart and read a lot back then. From what I've learnt pretty normal for Mercury in the first house (Especially since it would be cnj. my Sun). Anyway the subject captured my attention and it became kind of a background thing, however access to materials so I could learn more was limited. So background it remained. Every now and again my interest would flare up and die down. About a year and a half ago I came across VeryModern at the site where I run my blog and my interest really caught.
I bought a few books, Astrology for Dummies which made me wrinkle my nose, The Ultimate Astrology book, The House Book, and I enjoyed learning more.

My existing knowledge of astrology is probably pretty basic, its hard to tell with nothing to compare it against. I've gotten the basics of the signs and houses down, but I think I've gotten as far as I can on my own and to advance any I need something which fosters disscussion so that someone can correct the mistakes I'm sure I'm making, help me fill in the gaps, and keep my attention.

My friends are all in awe that I'm learning astrology and my family thinks I'm weird so neither group requires much explanation. I think astrology is an excellent tool with which to get to know yourself better. That it can be used to improve your life, by showing you your strengths and weaknesses. And that it can help you understand other people better. And mostly I just like it.

posted August 20, 2002 12:52 PM              

My first meeting with astrology would have been in 1985 or -86 when my mother brought Linda Goodman's "Sun signs" into the household. I was a very curious little girl who'd read everything that she came across, so also this book. I remember reading the chapter on Virgo as a child and thinking I wasn't subject to the ideal treatment! (Aries mom - "fuss, fuss", Leo dad - "because I said so").
I thought the descriptions of people in my immediate environment made sense, and just accepted the concept right away. Never been the least skeptical since!

Now that I'm 25 - well, I've been single for 13 months now, after a BAD relationship that lasted 5 years and left me broke and emotionally exhausted.
Wouldn't you know - Saturn in the 7th, as it turns out.
I've found that a lot of the difficult areas in my life are actually reflected in my chart - and this is very obvious to me even at this early stage.
I can tell you I know myself extremely well - but I'd like to be able to understand the little details in my chart, so that I can sort out the potential and direction - not only see the limitations that are so evident. (This is no "lighthearted" chart!)

When it comes to my descripition of astrology - how I see it and how I relate it to my friends and family are (at least) two different stories entirely! For me, it has the potential of becoming a tool for getting a better sense of the aforementioned direction. (Btw. I recently found out that people with most of their planets in the southern houses (or was it?) feel they have little control over their lives - Amen to that!)
When I talk to others about astrology, I generally tell them all about their Sun sign... Libras are often very impressed! LOL
I've started on guessing ascendants, too - and I'm not so bad, at least not if a water sign is involved! I've been lucky - people love this stuff

UP, UP & AWAY!!!

posted August 21, 2002 08:31 AM              

It absolutely amazes me when people tell me they don't believe in Astrology because they believe they are the masters of their own fate. Hey babes, you are so completely missing the point! I believe Astrology is empowering!! It makes things so much smoother and less painful because you're in the driver's seat, you know exactly where you're headed and there are no blind curves ahead so you know you're not going to crash-bang into a tree! If only I'd known earlier what I know now, I'd never have let spoil-sport Saturn wreak havoc the way he did a while ago!
No matter, even he couldn't keep me down for long.
As for this course, I cannot WAIT to get started.

posted August 23, 2002 01:31 PM            

Thank you to everyone for sharing
I can't wait to read everyone's stories at the end of the course

I hope some more of you will post your stories.

posted August 23, 2002 09:52 PM              

My name is Jacqueline. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 21, 1962 the 3:30 pm.

Linda's Sun Signs was one of the first books that I read. At that time I had only 15 years old.

The time passed and astrology was always an important thing in my life.

Almost two my years ago my life had a great change. Today I understand that this change was provoked by me, for my spiritual growth.

At that moment, I needed answers.
And I went behind them.

At that time I reread all of Linda's books that I possessed (I have all of her books that were published in Brazil) and I understood that a larger power was acting.

In fact, I realized that I was not following the road that I had chosen before being born.
I was moving away myself of that road therefore the change was inevitable.

As one thing takes to another, I ended up knowing you guys and today I am here wanting to learn more with the purpose of helping myself and those that need to cross this road in the best possible way.

Thanks for the help !

posted August 28, 2002 09:04 PM              

But, back to Berns..my birthday is December 16, 1970. I'm married for the second time, soon to be 9 years, and have 2 daughters, one from my first marriage and then the other from my current marriage. I say current as if there is going to be another, I doubt that, but couldn't think of a better word to use.

By day I am an accounting clerk, mundane work but I absolutely love it. And of course I'm the supermom, doing various stints as PTA expert, Homeroom mother extradionaire, and softball "cheerleader"...but by my spare time, when there is some, I love to write...poetry mostly, although I did write a short story once that is pretty good I think. A piece of my poetry was "published" if you will, on a website of one of my favorite musicians and of that I am extremely proud. I am very eclectic in my tastes in music, art, movies, and religion. I like to study other religions, and take a piece of each one I encounter and work it into my life. Produces quite a piece of work I think. I have friends from all walks of life and try my best to judge noone but myself.

Astrology...how does it fit into your life Berns? Well, since I was a child I have always been fascinated by nature, and especially the stars and moon/planets...as a teenager my favorite pasttime was gazing out my bedroom window while listening to music and writing poetry inspired by my "walks on the moon" that I would envision myself taking..

Growing up in a semiChristian home, I say semi because my mother was not the religious advocate in my life, like my grandmother was. It was grandmother who inspired me and taught me her faith, and not so much the ritual of religion that so many become trapped in that they no longer can distinguish the difference between Religion and Faith, no she taught me her faith. Faith to believe in something, faith that handled situations when they became larger than you. She was a beautiful person and if her soul flew to Heaven and became a celestial being, then her star is most certainly the Morning Star ie the brightest star in the sky.

But, back to growing up, while growing up in my environment, horoscopes were a daily part of life. My mother consulted many mediums and fortune tellers in her life, searching for who knows what, answers I suppose...what other reasons do you seek those out who can see the future or consult the spirits? So, this was something that was never condoned in my family/life. At an early age I had lots of friends and children, younger than me, always flocked to me. To this day, children still do that to me.

Interesting story...I was sitting on the beach this summer, and a little boy about 2 I'd say, kept making his way over to where I was. His sister kept coming and getting him, but he was determined. I sat watching him and thinking what a beautiful child he was...finally, he threw his dump truck and made a break for it, and found himself standing in front of me...I was in a beach chair close to the sand, so I was at his level as far as eye contact. I said hello, how are you? And he looked at me, tilted his little brown head from side to side, staring me down. Finally he took his little hand and touched my knee..he kept patting my knee. I said, do you want to sit here? Ges! he exclaimed. Next thing I knew he was in my lap!! This child I don't know! So, I let him sit there...I know if this had of been my child I may have panicked at this sight! But, he just sat and gazed at me. Finally his sister came over and told him to come on. He crossed his arms and said NO! When she insisted, saying "come on mama is worried" he pointed to me and said "dis mama"...this mama...he was calling me mama...now, you'd think, you resembled his mother Berns..um no, because he was African American and I am caucasion. He finally did go with her, but cried the whole way back to his parents...holding his hands out to me saying "dis mama, dis mama"...I'll never forget that little boy as long as I live...

So, from things like kids just being so comfy with me, to deja vu with my sisters, to dreams....then onto connecting with people...from there, the ability to read people's aura's, even in pictures...not always 100% right, but 99% of the time, right on the money....to seeing "shadows" in my home...healing my daughter when she has been sick...to feeling an evil presence in my home, that a friend of mine in another state felt at that same time...to confronting that evil and cleansing my home of it...these things draw me to learn more about myself and where I am headed.

I want to learn, I want to know things, other than what I know...I want to understand situations, I want to know why things happen, and I want to be able to take my strong faith in God and tie it all together, because I am a spiritual person, I love my faith, I love God and my Bible is my life's manual...and I know that these things, these gifts that I have been graciously allowed to have and to share with others, are real. I am not evil I am not a bad person, and I just want to be able to put this all together...

a year ago an online friend who goes by Annakiel, read my tarot cards via instant message, and he told me I was about to embark on an awakening. That I was about to taken to a higher level of self and for me to trust my intuition.

How do I fit astrology into this picture? By understanding the strong symbolism placed in my dreams, by knowing more about how the universe is and has been working in my life...even tonight in prayer/Bible study service at my Baptist church I received a sign, studing 1st Samuel, as we came to chapter 19 and it mentioned a festival that David was going to miss...the New Moon Festival...these things I take very seriously in my spirit life, and I believe that I have been led here for someone..everyone here to help me on my quest towards a higher self. To help me with the stepping stones.